E-learning for adult literacy, language and numeracy: a case study of a polytechnic

3. E-learning in five programmes

We selected these programmes for close examination because they address adults’ LLN needs and incorporate at least one aspect of e-learning. We discuss each one in turn. The order in which we present them runs from the programme that is most dependent on e-learning—an online numeracy class—to the programme that is least dependent—a literacy evening class with only a few ICT enhancements.

• Online distance learning (numeracy);
  
• Blended m-learning (apprentices);
  
• A digital resource centre (ESOL resource centre);
  
• Trades course involving some ICT use;
  
• Literacy class involving some ICT use.

3.1. Online distance learning (numeracy)

In 2008, the year we conducted our study, this programme was a rare instance in New Zealand of a course that had made long-term use (since around 2000) of online distance learning for adults with numeracy needs.

Context

This course is designed for adults whose goal is a health-related career, such as nursing, but whose numeracy holds them back from completing the necessary foundation work. More specifically, the course aims to equip students with the “basic arithmetic and graph-drawing skills” they will need to complete further study in health-related courses.

Most adults choose the face-to-face mode rather than the online form of the course. The few students who typically elect to study online choose this mode so they can fit in study time and study location with their employment and/or child care commitments. The course tutor told us that the adults who are most successful at studying online are those who already have some of the numeracy skills covered in the course and/or need to revise some of those skills. Adults who need to learn all topics tend to drop out or join the campus class while continuing their learning online. We were also told of one student who, having failed the course on campus, was guided into studying the topics online. She passed after completing this further self-paced study. Across the two course modes, students studying online are more likely than the students studying face to face to gain the top grades.

In addition to interviewing tutors and observing the online course materials, we interviewed four students (all women). All four said they valued this provision because the self-paced learning allowed them to fit the timing and duration of study around their personal lives. They also valued the course because their numeracy errors and lack of understanding remained private. “A computer doesn’t laugh at you,” said one. Past classroom-based experience of numeracy learning had left them embarrassed whenever they held up the rest of the class because they needed extra help or practice.

LLN targeted

Material advertising the programme states that it will “start at the very beginning with addition and subtraction and take you through to percentages and ratios”. Topics covered include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on whole numbers, decimals, fractions, order-of-operations rule, rounding numbers, estimation, graphs, powers, standard form, percentages, rates, ratios, proportion, metric conversions, calculators and word problems. The course is not tailored to individual needs, and it is up to the learners to choose which topics to study. Each topic begins with an introduction (eg Introduction to Metrics).

Place of learning

Many of the adults who opt to study online prefer to do so at home via the internet. Help desk support is available online, by phone, or by visiting the polytechnic’s Maths Help centre located within Learning Services. Adults without a computer at home can choose to study on polytechnic computers in the Maths Help centre or in an outreach centre nearer their home. One woman had done so successfully, but she noted that other people in the room distracted her. Another woman preferred the face-to-face contact of the classroom and supplemented her learning there with the learning provided online.

Most of the students we spoke to, especially those in work, found time and organisation constraints challenging. As one of them said, adults often find it difficult to discipline themselves “to sit down and study online”.

Form(s) of e-learning

Around 50 hours of self-paced individual learning is delivered in structured online units that adults learning at a distance access through the polytechnic’s course management system, Moodle. The printed workbook that complements the online resources reinforces each learner’s skills and achievements. Online access to the course is provided 24/7 for as long as each student requires access. Students complete the course by taking an examination at the polytechnic or at an approved assessment centre.

The computer requirements are clarified in the programme’s advertising materials. Potential students can also use the programme’s website to test if they can access the course material through their own computer and to determine if the software they have on that computer allows them to browse the internet. The website also provides a link to an online “tour” that features the introductions to several topics. The design of the programme assumes that students have the basic skills needed to operate a computer, access the internet, and learn through a learning management system.

Each unit takes a tutorial approach to learning a specific topic and starts with an introduction to important concepts. Occasionally, the units include interactive elements, such as that illustrated in the screen shot in Figure 1 below. All units contain a range of exercises with immediate feedback. When a learner has worked through a problem and entered the answer, he or she finds feedback on the next screen. An incorrect answer prompts the computer to offer the student different ways (short and long methods) of working out the problem.

When we asked students which features of the online programme they considered best aided their learning, they identified the following:

• Clear and colourful tuition;
  
• The ability to choose how long to stay on the computer;
  
• Presentation of several different ways of solving each maths problem;
  
• Practice exercises, including a mixture of easy and harder problems, with immediate feedback;
  
• The opportunity to repeatedly access material (“as much as you want”) before moving on to the next question or stage.

The learners also valued clear instructions. One woman, who was currently working in a supermarket, said, “When you do exponents or fractions, … [the computer tells you] what keys to press.” The “very good” Help section in the online course was also appreciated.

Figure 1: Example of an interactive exercise in the online numeracy course

One of the four women we interviewed in relation to the numeracy course had printed out all of the online material so that she could study on paper. She said she found it easier to study through this medium than via a computer screen. She also said she was worried about using wireless internet at home and so “got off it as soon as possible”. Her reason for doing this may have been a misconception about a health risk, or it may have related to the cost of the internet connection.

All four women suggested that additional exercises and an online video clip of someone teaching or explaining the maths would aid their learning. One woman had written as additional practice for herself some extra exercises based on those in the workbook. Another woman, who told us that “sometimes you just need a little more”, had borrowed a book (on maths for nurses) from the library. The women also wanted practice exercises at a more basic level than those currently provided. Another learner felt that the examples in the first unit went from easy to very hard in too few steps: “I’m all right doing the work on the computer, but it when it comes to doing the homework in the book, it’s like missing steps.” Additional formats for use at home, including a DVD, were proposed because “not everyone has internet or broadband access”. The women also proposed individual face-to-face tutorials, perhaps for an hour at a time, once or twice a term, on request.

The four women thought that a free, public online maths programme was a good idea, but only two said they would definitely use it, probably from home. They also said that they would want the resource to fit their specific needs and that success could also depend on “phone calls to ask questions, or face-to-face time with a tutor”.  Accompanying face-to-face workshops or tutorials were also deemed useful.

We also asked the four women to identify barriers to their and other students’ online learning. All recognised the following as common problems:

• Lack of basic computer skills;
  
• Not having one’s own computer;
  
• Not having home-based internet or broadband access;
  
• Having to enter answers on the computer rather than write them on paper.

Programme origination and development

This programme began in 1998 as a result of a polytechnic-funded initiative aimed at improving teaching and learning. Programme development was led by a tutor who has now become head of department. The funding allowed this numeracy expert to reduce her teaching load so that she could lead construction of the original web pages. While she enjoyed using software to create the web pages, she considered it prudent to call on support from an instructional designer.

The web pages were published on the polytechnic website so that any polytechnic student who wanted to develop his or her numeracy skills could do so. The department head had expected that most students would be able to use them successfully, but it soon became clear to her that self-paced online learning was only successful for students who already had some numeracy, and that this form of learning was particularly successful for students wanting to refresh numeracy skills that they had not used for some years.

Although the institution was ready in 2008 to offer this provision collaboratively with other organisations, it decided to move the pages to the polytechnic’s learning management system, which was initially Blackboard and is now Moodle. The web pages have thus become part of the content offered online. These and other changes in computer platforms caused technical problems, so ongoing maintenance is required. However, changes to the content and design of the web pages have been minimal because the content of the topics covered has remained static. The department head said that her increasing role in the polytechnic leadership over subsequent years had probably contributed to the ongoing support needed to successfully sustain this innovation.

3.2. Blended m-learning (apprentices)

This programme, which employs mobile technologies (eg mobile phones) to facilitate learning, is the only one of those we investigated in 2008 that encompassed work-based study. Apprentices’ learning involves course books blended with a learning management system and the use of mobile phones.

Context

The context for this course is a modern apprenticeship programme that links apprentices with employers. Apprentices’ workplace learning is complemented by a series of two-week block courses involving theory and practice and offered each year during the three years of apprenticeship learning at the polytechnic. Apprentices sign up for these courses through their industry training organisation (ITO).

The theory-based courses are part of a national certificate (Level 3) programme and follow industry unit standards. These topics are covered in printed workbooks and online through the course management system, Moodle. Course topics include legislative requirements, vocational science and technology, management, making processes, and plant and products. Summative assessment is linked to completion of unit standards during block courses on campus. However, the apprentices are also required to gather evidence of learning from their workplaces.

LLN targeted

The course as a whole contains a strong embedded literacy component, but this case study focuses on the m-learning component. Apprentices commonly have literacy and numeracy needs. They tend, therefore, to find gathering evidence for formative and summative assessment challenging.

Place of learning

Cohorts of around 10 apprentices learn in workplaces scattered across New Zealand. Each year, the apprentices also attend a two-week block-learning course on the polytechnic’s main campus. Some of their learning also occurs at home.

Ensuring that apprentices complete their training continues to be a struggle because employers are often too busy to provide the required experiences and to sign off their apprentices’ learning records of skills and unit standards acquired. The tutor said that some employers were keen for the polytechnic to take over this role.

Form(s) of e-learning

Since 2000, apprentices have been able to access learning resources for 10 unit standards through the polytechnic’s learning management system, Moodle. However, the apprentices rarely have online access in their workplaces, so they generally use Moodle only when on campus. According to one of the programme’s tutors, many first-year apprentices are not computer literate or they have limited keyboard skills at the start of the programme. This situation applies even to those who are skilled on game consoles. However, due to the apprentices’ lack of access, while out in the workplace, to an internet-connected computer, the online resources have also been redeveloped into paper-based workbooks.

The learning management system provides an e-portfolio for the apprentices to aggregate formative and summative assessment of their work relative to the unit standards. The e-portfolio gives apprentices opportunity to develop their ICT skills because they have to upload evidence of their achievements. They also use this facility to find out what improvements their peers and tutors think they need to make to their submitted work. The learning management system allows tutors to view and assess all apprentices’ work. It also provides them with tools with which to build and distribute additional learning activities.

Tutors and most of the apprentices use mobile phones extensively as part of the learning context. The polytechnic purchases mobile phones for the tutors and has in place routines that allow for an easy interface between the phones and the learning management system. All apprentices use their own mobile phones, but the polytechnic gives them vouchers that support the cost of using the phones for three purposes:

• Responding to a tutor’s text message to arrange meetings at the student’s workplace. The success of texting for this purpose stimulated the second purpose;
  
• Formative evaluation of the theory contained in the workbooks, prompted by the tutor sending a text of a different multiple-choice question up to four times per day to all the apprentices. The tutor uses a mass text system called eTXT. Each multiple-choice question uses up to the 160 characters permitted in a text message;
  
• Photographs and video evidence of workplace-based learning captured by the apprentice on his or her phone in the workplace so that the tutor can assess this work against unit standards. Apprentices upload this material into their personal journals in Moodle. When doing this, they often use an interim web-based repository compatible with mobile phones, such as Flickr, to store photographs, or YouTube, for video. A few apprentices have explored the use of social networking sites, such as Bebo, which can be linked to their Moodle page. However, it was evident that apprentices rarely want to mix their working life with their leisure activities.

During the block courses, each apprentice collects all of this evidence together into his or her e-portfolio. Their tutors encourage the apprentices to choose software that is appropriate for presenting this work. Some apprentices use PowerPoint presentation software. Others experiment with web tools, such as Comiq, to show a work process. Comiq allows users to present a series of photos with captions in balloons (as is done in comic strips).

Apprentices, tutors and the polytechnic’s ICT coordinator have together learned the capabilities of the mobile phones. As they have become more sophisticated users of their own mobile technology, apprentices have helped their tutors develop the ICT skills needed to operate m-learning effectively. Before the phones were used for this purpose, only a few apprentices had used their phones for surfing the web, videoing and/or photographing. Since using the phones as part of the learning context, apprentices have gained confidence in using a variety of mobile phone applications for a variety of purposes. Tutors are continuing to learn from their students how best to “maximise the system”: having several different phones and payment plans is just one recently developed option.

The tutors told us that they had purposefully decided to use a digital tool that their apprentices were familiar with (ie the mobile phone) and to combine it with web-based applications that are freely available. To date, the most successful outcome of this approach has been the apprentices’ documentation in the e-portfolio of their workplace-based competencies, skills and knowledge. Each e-portfolio website is hosted by or linked to a Moodle course so that the apprentices can readily access their individual areas, and their tutors can easily see all of the apprentices’ work.

The tutors also told us of several unexpected benefits of the m-learning approach. Apprentices, they said, have taken greater ownership of their learning, especially as they near the end of their apprenticeships. They have become smarter at gathering evidence for their portfolios, and they are “more attuned to what they are doing at work”. They have also “become more assessment smart” in terms of determining the best work evidence to collect and present. Previously, apprentices’ assessment focus had been on “getting the employer to sign them off”. The apprentices, furthermore, are giving more thought as to what they are actually being taught in the workplace, and they have a greater awareness of the range of products they need to work with in order to achieve all their unit standards.

Programme origination and development

The innovative use of e-learning in this programme was instigated and led by a tutor who has been and remains an early adopter of innovations (see Rogers, 2003, for a description of adopter categories). She works closely with an innovative ICT coordinator; both receive strong support from their managers.

The initiative had been stimulated in part by the polytechnic winning a series of grants received from the government that were designed to encourage the development of innovative teaching and learning practice. The first innovation within the e-learning programme was the implementation of online learning. However, when it became apparent that the apprentices were not comfortable using the course learning management system as part of their workplace learning, their tutors redesigned the e-learning context to encompass mobile technology so that it would support the apprentices’ learning in the workplace. This redevelopment constituted the second innovation – the texting of multiple-choice questions. The third innovation, which was still being developed at the time of our investigation in 2008, is the requirement for apprentices to gather evidence of their accomplishments while in the workplace and then to present it online.

The ICT coordinator noted that he and the team of tutors were continually evaluating different phone-accessible websites in an effort to find which best suits the programme’s aims and needs. The ICT coordinator also told us that a long-range goal of the programme is to have apprentices and tutors make as much use as possible of mobile phones to collect and collate (in the e-portfolio) evidence of learning. An even longer-term aim is to obtain funding to extend the project to a range of other trades and students, in order to determine the effectiveness of this approach in other workplace contexts. As the coordinator pointed out, trades such as building and plumbing, where students move around between sites, seem particularly well suited to the mobile-phone approach. He also observed that mobile communication networks offer increasingly practical opportunities for m-learning.

3.3. A digital resource centre (ESOL)

The polytechnic’s ESOL centre is the driver behind the integration of self-study into programmes for adults wanting to learn English as a second or other language (ESOL). Digital technologies are an increasingly natural part of the centre and its e-learning extensions.

Context

The ESOL centre serves migrants, international students and refugees, and their tutors. Most of these students enrol in English classes, full or part time; others drop in according to need. Our investigation focused on permanent students, who often have work or other commitments.

Tutors teach the English language directly in their classroom or team up with tutors in the trades and professional programmes. They also help adults in their classes to use resources in the polytechnic’s computer labs and ESOL centre. All classes have, per week, one hour scheduled in the computer suite and one hour in the language centre. Adults can drop in at any time, including after class up to 7.00  p.m., or during the weekends from 12.00 noon to 4.00  p.m.

The ESOL centre’s close relationship with tutors throughout the polytechnic has resulted in a successful student support system. At the beginning of the year, and at other times as necessary, centre staff give tutors an introduction to or an update on centre resources. This information includes material on a range of useful resources and strategies that tutors can match to the level and discipline of their students.

LLN targeted

Within the ESOL programme, the course for beginners in the English language includes those adults with the highest level of LLN needs. At the time of our investigation, there were about 40 such adults, spread across three classes. Of these 40, about 15 had no English whatsoever, so were absolute beginners. In addition, the centre was accommodating about 200 adults with an intermediate level of English-language proficiency, and about 100 students at the upper-intermediate and above levels. To move from one level to the next, students take a test at the end of the term. Some adults stay at the same level for more than one term.

Place of learning

The ESOL centre is located in a large room on a floor of the central library adjacent to racks of English-language-related material and two computer rooms overseen by the centre manager.  The centre’s display stands of books and media include video and audio materials in several formats, including DVD. A whole section features New Zealand-based materials. Other racks, shelves and stands display plastic bags containing the following: recorded items, tasks and transcripts; beginning and elementary teaching items for listening, reading and vocabulary; books on English for specific purposes (eg business English, English for science); and multimedia assessment tools with sound tracks on CDs to prepare for test such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS). The latter include transcripts and answers. Near the enquiry desk is a wide range of colour-coded one-page guides on strategies for successful language learning. Figure 2 provides an extract from a student guide to computer-based resources.

Before beginning their learning, students tour the centre, during which they receive information on what they can do in the centre and how to access resources. At the end of the tour, they complete a simple quiz on paper. The quiz is designed to assess their needs and to encourage them to start to take responsibility for their own learning. Students are free to walk around and look closely at the resources. Centre activities and information sheets cater for different levels of English proficiency. Vocabulary and layout (eg font size) differ according to student need. Vocabulary relevant to different contexts (eg business, science, nursing, and everyday situations, such as a visit to the doctor) is also on offer.

Although centre staff and tutors sometimes directly refer students to specific resources likely to help their language development, they also guide, advise and encourage students towards thinking about and evaluating what they might do. The aim is not to tell students to do things in certain ways but, as is the case with the above-mentioned quiz, to help them take ownership of their learning. ESOL centre desk staff accordingly encourage and support students to use a plan for their resource-based learning. The plan has the particular advantage of scaffolding each student’s learning in a manner that allows him or her to develop autonomy in language learning.

Students begin their plan by noting demographic information, including home language. From there, tutors help the adults to analyse why they are learning English and which aspects of that learning are important to them. This step is advanced by having the students tick items, listed under four columns (reading, writing, listening, and speaking), that they want to develop. They then provide a short statement describing their goals or needs related to English-language learning. The tutor then comments on their lists and statements. The final page of the plan provides space for a log of resources used and notes on each resource’s helpfulness. A 1 to 3 scale also allows the students to rate that helpfulness.

In addition to a full-time manager, the ESOL centre has a part-time technical support assistant and a resource coordinator. The centre also employs peer students for evenings and on weekends. Criteria for selection relate to having a male/female balance and a range of ethnicities. Open-mindedness and helpfulness are also important selection criteria.

Forms of e-learning

In addition to its traditional resources, the centre has many forms of e-learning at hand. To allow for this provision, the polytechnic remodelled the room that accommodates the centre and changed the centre’s furnishings. The centre thus contains digital equipment and appropriate seating, and its resources are grouped into four well-labelled skills areas: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Many of the published resources in the ESOL centre are digital. These are carefully collected, coded and placed, along with other resources, in clearly marked repositories. The other resources include:

• Audio and video books;
  
• Music recordings;
  
• Interactive software packages and guides to their use;
  
• Information sheets containing useful websites (refer to Figure 2); 
  
• Multimedia assessment tools (eg IELTS and OET tests), with sound tracks on CDs and including transcripts and answers;
  
• Podcasts, blogs and online resources, linked through the polytechnic’s learning management system.

The polytechnic carefully designed the ESOL centre to minimise disturbance from students involved in different activities. For example, students who want to listen to and record speech can use booths. On one occasion, we observed six students who were part of an ESOL class engaged in a variety of activities employing digital technologies. Between them, the students were:

• Working on a computer-generated exercise to identify errors in written English sentences;
  
• Conducting research via the internet;
  
• Taking down notes for an essay through what appeared to be a hand-held personal digital assistant (PDA);
  
• Watching a TV3 news item on a screen set at the back of the room and listening to the item through headphones so as not to distract other students in the centre. 

One of the adjacent computer rooms is a digitalised language lab that is frequently used by tutors and students. Tutors introduce their students to software in this lab, which includes the very popular software series Issues in English (see http://www.englishsoftware.com.au/ esl/issues.htm). (The resource is available both at the centre and on the polytechnic computer network for use in the dedicated computer suite.) Tutors also help students use software to record, listen to and edit their own speech in English and to compare it with other samples. The centre manager noted that a challenge is explaining how the software works to students with low levels of English-language proficiency.  

The two ESOL literacy students we interviewed had learned English in their respective countries, but were unable to understand or speak the language with confidence, even though both had Kiwi spouses and had been in New Zealand for two and five years respectively. Although the European man used English when helping his children with their homework, the Asian woman expressed fear at trying to communicate in English in daily life, as she could not understand what people were saying.

Both students wanted to improve their English so they could obtain work or undertake study. However, both said the main barrier to study was lack of time because of work and/or family commitments. The adult from Asia had worked in the ICT industry and planned to return to that field of work in New Zealand once she had gained sufficient English proficiency.

Both students also noted their need for support during computer-based learning. They said they had experienced difficulties using the computers and had needed staff help to resolve those problems. Individual support was essential in the early stages of learning to use computer software, as were opportunities for repeated practice. The two students appreciated centre staff directing them to activities on the internet, such as stories they could listen to and read.

The adult from Europe, who had an intermediate level of English ability when he first came to the centre, said he had been able to actively search the polytechnic’s library and the internet for reading materials that would enable him to consolidate his learning. However, the other student, whose English was not as strong, had been frustrated in her attempts to access the library and the internet when first at the polytechnic. She felt that no one had explained that such access required her to load funds onto her student card, let alone explain the process for doing this. (In 2009, the polytechnic ceased this charging approach.)  Both students gave particular praise to the resource Issues in English, introduced to them by their class tutor. Their praise centred on these features:

• Inclusion of different aspects of English, such as dictation, listening and writing;
  
• Allowance for repeated practice;
  
• Activities graded into levels of difficulty;
  
• Opportunity for students to move up and down the difficulty levels as desired.

The two students suggested that a free online resource for literacy, accessible from home, would be an especially useful aid for ESOL learners. The aspects they wanted to see included in this resource were structured material, as in Issues in English, as well as activities for listening to and speaking English. The adult from Europe said he was already using the internet to help his children learn his language and that he would be happy to have access to or guidance on where to find resources for this purpose.

Programme origination and development

The ESOL centre, which had begun about 15 years previously, had experienced particularly strong growth in the six years since the appointment of the current manager. She had been particularly instrumental in increasing the range of e-learning facilities, with support from the ICT coordinator and colleagues. At the time of our investigation, she had just redesigned the main resource room; this refurbishment was completed soon after the end of our investigation.

In order to develop resources, the manager reads extensively and uses the web. Other sources include conferences and websites of professional associations, such as the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language and publishers’ catalogues. The manager said that talking to tutors and students about what they want is also helpful in terms of bringing in new resources. She told us that centre staff often adapt new resources to accommodate the proficiency levels of the students, and/or split the resources into units so that more students can use them at any one time. The manager deemed careful cataloguing of resources an essential component of resource accessibility.

The centre manager also told us that the centre holds a group meeting each month to provide polytechnic tutors and other staff with “advice, professional development and inspiration”. This “special interest group” frequently discusses the suitability of resources for ESOL purposes. The manager described these meetings as one of the “cornerstones” of the centre’s success.

The manager is also engaged in research into best practices for teaching language. As part of her professional development, she is studying towards a masters degree in language learning and technology. She made particular mention of her research into and development of guided individual learning. This work, she said, has the added benefit of providing a means of evaluating and improving the centre’s current practice.

It was clear to us that the centre’s manager is an agent of change in the polytechnic. In addition to developing and facilitating the activities described, she plans ongoing professional development for e-learning, which includes providing polytechnic staff with hands-on experience of the facilities in the ESOL centre and its language lab. To date, staff had been given, among other opportunities, experience in deploying the language learning management system, using digital recorders, and trying out the audio-editing software that students use to improve their spoken English.

3.4. Trades course involving some use of ICT

This full-time programme of study for students engaged in or wanting to enter a trade leads to national certification. In order to develop, where needed, students’ LLN skills, programme staff had embedded into the programme’s learning materials strategies associated with the Tertiary Education Commission’s Literacy, Language and Numeracy Action Plan.

Context

Programme tutors are well aware that adults learning trades learn best if their learning is set within their chosen vocational context. The programme and its courses have therefore been designed so that the majority of students’ early study is authentic and practical. Theory is introduced gradually, but becomes an increasingly important part of each course as the programme progresses. Each course gives over its afternoons to simulated work projects, such as building foundations for a transformer. In essence, tutors manage their classes in a way that prepares their students for the workplace. For example, students must call in if sick or unable to attend class, and they are held responsible for their own progress. Older students with trade experience are encouraged to mentor younger or less experienced students.

During our investigation, we observed a full-time group of students during a “theory” class conducted as part of a 36-week foundation-level trades course and involving a computer simulation of a trade activity. The course had begun about seven weeks earlier, and the students we observed ranged in age from 15 to 48. The 15-year-old had been allowed to leave school because of his acceptance on to the course. Two of the men in the class identified as Māori; one of them was older and the other was the 15-year-old. The older man told us that he sometimes answered questions on behalf of and provided orientation for the younger Māori student.

The trades tutor had qualified initially as a primary school teacher and was studying towards the polytechnic’s Certificate in Adult Teaching (see section on professional development below). On Friday afternoons, this tutor voluntarily set aside an hour outside class time so that he could give extra tuition to those needing it. Seven or eight students had attended his most recent session. Some had retaken an open book examination; others had caught up on work they had missed, or come to pick up notes, or simply ask for help. The tutor told us that ESOL students sometimes came along for help with English related to their courses. One of the Māori students we interviewed said he valued this additional opportunity for one-to-one face-to-face time with his tutor. The tutor, in turn, told us that he often consulted the older Māori student in his class to ensure that his (the tutor’s) teaching was culturally appropriate for Māori.

LLN targeted

The course tutors told us that although their students’ LLN needs vary from individual to individual, many of the students have extensive skills needs, most often in relation to writing and reading. The literacy levels certainly varied widely in the class we observed, as did students’ trades-related skills; some students had very little practical experience while others had a considerable amount. Other needs also required consideration. One of the students, for example, was a diagnosed dyslexic; another had Asperger’s Syndrome and another had ADHD (an attention deficit disorder).

Where necessary, tutors in this and the other courses in the programme refer their students to Learning Services for extra help with numeracy and/or literacy and to access assistive technologies such as digital recorders. The tutor of the course we observed told us that lessons within the programme’s courses are sometimes co-taught by the vocational tutor and a tutor from Learning Services. Each tutor teaches the same topic, such as trigonometry, from his or her complementary perspective. A particular advantage of this approach is that the vocational tutor is able to learn additional teaching strategies.

Place of learning

For most of the students enrolled in the trades programme, learning takes place entirely on the polytechnic campus. For adults not in work, the polytechnic simulates a workplace and engages the students in authentic projects. Theory classes occur in traditional classrooms that are well equipped from an e-learning perspective. This high level of resourcing is especially evident in the computer lab, where we observed a lesson. Tutors and other polytechnic staff encourage students to drop in and use the computer labs whenever they are not being used for formal classes.

Forms of e-learning

The trades programme is continuing to build up a rich e-learning environment that in future will include video links to the existing simulated trade workplaces. Three approaches to e-learning are notably present within the programme; each enables the adult learners to revisit their learning and to build their LLN skills as they work through their courses.

The first approach that we noted concerned the tutor of the class we observed. This tutor was making extensive use of presentation software, word-processing and digital photos in his teaching sessions and in his learning-support materials. He told us that he liked to source many of his teaching materials, such as how to build a straw-bale house, online. After showing these video clips and animations to his class, he encouraged discussion about the processes involved. At the time we spoke with him, he was writing a computer-based assessment on making a deck after referring to several relevant websites. The tutor also reported that he encouraged his students to use other polytechnic e-learning facilities, such as a numeracy unit accessible through the polytechnic’s learning management system (see Section 3.4 above).

The tutor had found mixing pictures with words a particularly helpful teaching and learning device. Taking photos of building sites and then placing these in PowerPoint presentations allowed him to present authentic images. These not only reminded the students of the processes but also increased their learning engagement, and even more so when the tutor added the elements of humour and surprise to his presentations. The tutor said he reused the PowerPoint slides as handouts, which, as we later learned, were greatly appreciated by one adult whose reading and writing skills were very limited.

The second approach that we documented was the provision of e-assessment within the learning management system. According to a senior tutor within the trades programme, many of the adults enrolled in its courses benefit from alternatives to pen and paper tests of terminology. Quiz questions, with drag and drop answers, available within each course in the learning management system (Moodle), prove particularly beneficial for adults with LLN needs early in their study, he said. This is because the opportunity to recognise key terms by sight, rather than to write them down or verbalise them, helps these adults overcome their weak grasp of written terminology early in their programme. This approach, the tutor went on, also improves these students’ ability to remember this terminology in the long term. Moreover, by the end of the course, after extensive theory and practical work, they are able to speak and write these new words without difficulty.

The third approach we observed was a computer simulation developed by the trades faculty to teach and reinforce the processes of laying out a building site. This activity involves a complicated set of skills that all students in the programme need to acquire. The tutor told us he uses one class meeting to introduce the simulation and he then encourages the students to return to it as needed during class or study time. The session during which we watched the simulation involved a group of students gathered together in a computer suite with 21 computers, a large display screen featuring the tutor’s computer screen, and an interactive whiteboard. The display screen initially showed a bare section of grass, with the tools for the job set out in a tool bar on the right-hand side of the screen. Step-by-step written instructions appeared at the bottom of the screen. A site plan was in a separate window. Each stage of the simulation included different set-up exercises, for example, accurately measuring and setting out the markers that later guide construction according to the architect’s plan. Students also had the option of viewing a real-life video clip showing the simulated processes.

The tutor also told us that students helped one another with the simulation activity, and we witnessed this. Some of the students were able to start work straight away with minimal explanation. The second wave of students waited until the first had started work, watched them for a minute or two until they felt confident to try on their own, and then got to work. The approach taken by this second set of students suggests that peer-to-peer support can be more effective in some situations than tutor input, although it should not replace formal tuition. The final wave of students waited for someone they knew to finish or waited for the tutor to have time to help them on a one-to-one basis. During this time, they were frequently off task, and as a result were not learning and were at risk of distracting others. Once a classmate had finished and was prepared to help them, these students allowed themselves to be guided through the process step by step, often pausing for answers and additional help from the tutor.

The tutor roved around the room, observing and commenting on the students’ progress; those needing help raised their hands. When the task was finished, students were allowed to access the internet, as long as they did so quietly. The two students who particularly needed both peer and tutor support were the youngest learner and the oldest learner. The oldest learner was unable to use the software because of his lack of ICT skills and his inability to read the instructions. He thought that he did not need this content because he had considerable experience of the building trade, although he may have benefited from the embedded numeracy. These two students continued to require one-to-one support to use this software throughout the time we observed this course.

We noted that the simulation had a competitive component. The most obvious such element from the outset was the self-marking nature of the resources. Once a student had completed the simulation, the software sounded a bell, and after a few students had finished, they immediately compared their scores. The second competitive aspect was the time (shown on the computer screen) that each student took to complete the task. The students who participated in these competitive aspects of the exercises obviously enjoyed what they were doing and were highly focused on their work and its outcomes.

We also noted a particular challenge for some of the adults with LLN needs. Adults seeking entry to the course had to be formally accepted onto it before their course funding could come through. This process, we learned, tended to be delayed if applicants had personal (often LLN- related) challenges or lacked initial commitment to the particular trade. Because these adults could not receive a computer ID until they paid the course fees, they could not access the self-study resources without tutor support, a situation that often put them behind their peers, limited their enjoyment of the course and hindered their motivation to fully engage with and/or continue the course.

Programme origination and development

According to the trades tutors, when they first introduced the task of setting out a building site (the task was not, at this time, presented in simulation form), up to one half of any one class of students needed to do extra work and receive tutor encouragement and reinforcement in order to complete it. The task includes many procedures, calculations and tools, all of which have to be used and considered sequentially, according to the architect’s plan.

Given the difficulty experienced by so many students, the tutors, led by the current head of the department, took advantage of an internal grant to build the simulation. They decided to use a game-like interface whereby students could progressively set up the building site. Smaller (software interface) windows, set into the main window, providing instructions, a tools menu, and a plan for the building site, can be opened by clicking a mouse. The tutor of the class we observed said that the simulation had been inspired to some extent by tutors’ observations of their students. The tutors noted that students who needed to conceptualise angles and calculations in later activities returned to the model of a roof they had built out of cardboard in an early session.

We consider it likely that this and other e-learning innovations in the department had been sustained in part by the leadership and increasing authority and respect afforded to the head of school. This person also assisted the leader of his faculty in relation to e-learning innovations. The dean’s vision for the library and the faculty’s learning centre, which was under construction at the time of our investigation, was “that there will be books there, but [only] as one of the modes for learning. Most of the notes will be on Moodle [the online learning management system], whereas in the past there had been a tendency to use workbooks, and the tutor would say, ‘Turn to Page 1 and go down through the questions.’ Now they’re getting very much into project learning, which is proving to be particularly effective.” The dean went on to explain that project-based learning requires increased support for individual and group learning. A learning management system, she said, can aid organisation of that support and act as an assessment tool.

3.5. Literacy class involving some use of ICT

The traditional adult literacy courses offered at the polytechnic use various elements of e-learning. This provision includes use of software designed to aid learners with dyslexia.

Context

The polytechnic’s adult literacy course is a free programme that is offered part-time on campus as well as in outreach centres across the city. It is also offered as a one-year full-time course. The course follows a traditional approach, but also, as the description on the polytechnic website claims, allows for individualisation of learning: “An individual programme will be developed to suit your needs so you can improve skills in reading, writing, spelling and mathematics with a group of people with similar needs. Communicating in groups and basic computer skills are also part of the programme. You will be equipped for further education, training or employment.”

We learned that lack of confidence is a major inhibiting factor for all adult literacy learners. According to one of the tutors we spoke to, the adult literacy class is almost therapeutic because it is a place where students can be open about what they cannot do: “We try to create an atmosphere where everybody is accepted.” Most students, the tutor explained, have not had good learning experiences in the past. All have been humiliated for making mistakes, and some have been hit for doing so. Any learning pressure could therefore cause the old feelings and fear to return.

The students that we spoke to told us that, in addition to learning to read and write, they were inspired by the accepting ethos of the class. This, they said, aided their learning: “It’s just like one big, happy family,” said one. The tutors “are unbelievable. They don’t make you feel like you’re stupid”, said another. Students highly valued individual work with a tutor. This was especially true of students who found it hard to ask questions in a group, and particularly if that question concerned a specific point related to a student’s own work. The students welcomed teaching that occurred in “baby steps”, followed by “putting it all together”.

For most of the students we observed and interviewed, coming to a literacy class was a major challenge because of unhappy memories of school. However, the need to learn to read and write to a satisfactory level had spurred them on to face this hurdle. One student expressed his joy at being able to write an email by himself for the first time as a result of what he had learned. Another said, “Academically, I have always looked down on myself, and it’s lifted me, coming here. It’s really boosted my confidence. I remember, the first day I came here, I cried my eyes out because it was something that I knew I needed, for a long time.”

Except for two students-a member of the Pasifika community who had never attended school, and an Asian­-the students in an evening class we observed were from English-speaking backgrounds. All of these students were motivated by the need to improve their literacy skills in order to secure or retain employment. Some wanted to find a higher-level job; others wanted to do their current job better. One student working in a professional capacity wanted to improve her skills so that she could meet the demands of her current job and thereby keep it. Until coming to the class, this adult had struggled with her professional studies and had needed a proof-reader to check her documents at work. Other reasons that the adults gave for enhancing their literacy skills included the desire to read to their grandchildren, to help their children with reading difficulties, and to read and write in their native language as well as in English. Most students recognised the additional benefits of boosting self-esteem and confidence.

LLN targeted

The course’s targeted LLN skills are reading and writing. The course is open to all adults, no matter what their level of English-language proficiency. Some of the adult students we encountered during our investigation had very few reading and writing skills.

In the evening class we observed, the group of students with the lowest level of literacy competency comprised five males, four of them in full-time work. One of these men was a confident reader, but had considerable difficulty with writing. Two of the students in the class had been sent to the course by their employers. Two more said their family members (spouse, children, or member of their extended family) sometimes helped them with reading or writing, but they wanted to become independent of them. Several adults said they had come to the course because they wanted to read to their grandchildren.

On the evening that we attended the class, the tutor began the session with individual time and reading, with each student reading a (usually) self-chosen story to the tutor. The tutor reminded students of, and guided them towards, the skills needed to decode meaning. The rest of the session was given over to the students working on activities commensurate with their levels of literacy proficiency. For example, the tutor’s aim for the group of students with the lowest level of proficiency was for them to revisit activities and revise learning that had occurred during the term. Activity for the evening for this group therefore included a spelling test (the students had a week to prepare for it); discussion about the spelling of words, such as phonic aspects and alphabetical order; revision of nouns, verbs and homonyms; and advice on how to write a sentence. Two of the four adults in the group of students with a medium level of proficiency were preparing to study for a tertiary qualification. Their main focus at this time was spelling, grammar and writing skills (eg paragraphing).

Place of learning

The evening class we observed took place during Week 10 of the 17-week course. The course offers three-hour evening sessions twice a week and its emphasis is on reading, writing and verbal literacy, not numeracy. It is team-taught by two tutors in a temporary building on the campus. Three adjoining classrooms in this building are available for the course. At the time we visited the campus, one of these classrooms had a cluster of six desktop computers. The tutors also teach in the outreach centres, where, they said, the adults typically have a higher level of literacy than those adults attending the course on campus.

The tutors told us they separate their classes into two groups-one with low literacy-skill proficiency (pre-TEC progressions) and the other with a medium level of proficiency. The two tutors also sub-group these two groups, so that students with commensurate skill levels can work in pairs or trios. Students, we were told, tend to progress through their learning activities at different rates; some work ahead of the others, and some want to redo some of their activities in order to consolidate their learning. Only spelling had been successful as homework. We heard of one student who, when sick, had asked his tutor, by email, to email some spelling words to him.

Both tutors were using word-processing to tailor worksheets to the needs of small groups of adults. The tutors told us they generally introduce these words to the groups around the middle of each class session.

Form(s) of e-learning

When using computers for a particular activity, the literacy programme tutors use software recommended by a local firm specialising in software for dyslexics. A third member of the literacy team, who has the most expertise with software, provides support for her colleagues. The tutors said they generally manage the pace at which their students engage with this software and they actively encourage its use. Both of the tutors we interviewed told us that these adults need considerable support. “These people,” said one of them, “need a lot of support and encouragement. The relationship [with them] is more important, almost, than what’s on the screen.”

It was apparent to us during our visit that the extent to which tutors and students use computers during the course increases as the students gain greater literacy proficiency. The overall level of literacy in the class we observed was lower than that in the outreach centre we visited during our investigation. We noted, on arriving at class, that the more competent adults with at least intermediate-level English (Level 2 of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills(ALL) survey) and some ICT skills got straight onto the computers, before the class started, and into activities that included spelling and word-processing. We also observed that the students attending the outreach centres often helped their peers, and were more likely to do so than the campus-based students. Course tutors directed these more competent students to online websites, such as BBC Skillswise(see http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise), so they could practise the skills introduced by the tutor. The tutor of the low-level group of students attending the campus class guided the students into using software such as Word Shark (see http://www.wordshark.co.uk/).  However, we observed this tutor keeping a careful eye on the students’ progress and sometimes adding in, for further practice, activities such as a downloaded printout of a crossword. She left these supplementary activities on a table for students to access during their individual study time.

We saw that some of the students with the lower level of literacy proficiency in the class were unable to use Word Shark because they could not read what was on the screen, including menu items and what to do. Some could not enter their name and password without assistance. All of the adults attending the course had limited ICT skills. This was particularly true of the older students in the class. Not surprisingly, they found any work involving a computer interface challenging. The tutor worked with these students on a one-to-one basis, sitting alongside them at the computer and encouraging them “to have a go”. We watched the tutor working with one such student. When the student made errors, the tutor encouraged him to try again. If the student found the task relatively easy to complete, the tutor decreased the time available to repeat it, or gave him a game to play as a reward. All programme tutors prompted the adults to review and reflect on what they had learned. “Often,” said one tutor, “I’ll ask, ‘How did you feel about that? What do you think you did well? Do you think it was helpful or a waste of time?’”

Word Shark, according to the tutors, is one of the more popular items of software for the students. The students confirmed this comment. They said they enjoyed using it to support their spelling learning. They also said it taught them “a lot”, that the person providing the voiceover content had an acceptable accent (unlike the Read Rapid software for children; see http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Primary/Literacy/SpecialNeeds/RapidFamily/RapidFamily.aspx), that it offered opportunity for repeated practice, and that it complemented the in-class work. Word Shark also allowed the students to listen and hear differences in word endings, a feature that the two ESOL adults noted as a particularly useful attribute. One of these adults illustrated her difficulty by referring to the auditory similarity of “my” and “mine”.

Because of their limited ICT skills, many of the adults attending the literacy courses receive a high level of support from family members when using digital technologies at home. Three of the four adults in the medium-level group we observed had access to a computer at home. Two of them were using their internet-connected computers to research topics or engage in activities online, such as locating recipes. A third was using her laptop for email and games but did not feel competent enough to use the computers in the polytechnic resource centre.

When we asked these four students if they would find a free online learning resource helpful, three of them identified the following potential benefits: learning at home, learning independently, and no time limit on computer use. The fourth student,  an adult with ESOL learning requirements and the only one of the four to have had experience of learning online, told us that she found learning by distance difficult because she needed to have someone she could consult with and bounce ideas off. The class, she said, provided this support. She also told us that she struggled with reading and writing on the computer, preferring to print out material and then highlight it. She said if she had no other option, she would probably access a distance learning course from her home, but she would still need someone to explain the material to her. She highly valued face-to-face engagement with the course tutor and her classmates.

In addition to emphasising the challenges just mentioned for adults learning online, the tutors identified the following difficulties:

• Many adults with LLN needs lack basic computer skills and do not know how to use the internet;
  
• Many adults find online material too hard to learn independently and therefore need personal support. One tutor said: “You … need someone there to help you sound it out”;
  
• Many adults and their families and whānau are unable to evaluate whether a website is useful and appropriate, let alone accurate.

Programme origination and development

Two of the tutors we spoke to said that a third tutor had led the development of e-learning within the literacy programme. She was also the tutor who, as we mentioned earlier, had liaised with a local firm specialising in software for dyslexics. The tutors said they had good support from the e-learning coordinator and from other services necessary to maintain their cluster of computers and internet connections.